1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to lawnmower-type devices, and more specifically relates to such a device adapted to drill a plurality of equidistantly spaced bore members in a lawn or other ground surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a developer is building new homes, it is a common practice to operate a bulldozer over the construction site to remove weeds, rocks, and other clutter often associated with undeveloped home building sites. Thus, when the home construction is completed, it becomes necessary to install a lawn to provide an attractive home site. In such situations, it is a common practice to install a plurality of square-in-configuration sod members to construct the desired lawn. Many times, however, the developer will install a cheap, relatively undesirable type of grass. As a consequence, many home owners desire to upgrade their lawns by substituting a better variety of grass for the lawn that was purchased with the home. In such cases, it is possible to simply use a bulldozer to strip away the undesired lawn, and to re-sod the lawn with the improved variety of grass, or to plug grass stock of improved varieties. Of course, this is a rather expensive proposition. Therefore, it has become a common practice to convert a lawn of one type to a lawn of an improved type by planting relatively small plugs of the new, more desirable grass, at preselected intervals throughout the undesirable lawn. In this manner, the expansion of the new, desirable grass will gradually eliminate the old, undesirable grass.
The conventional method of installing the plugs involves digging individual holes in the lawn to be replaced, and individually filling each hole with a plug of the new grass. Since the new plugs are usually spaced about 12 to 18 inches apart from one another (although spacings may range from 6 inch centers to 18 inch centers, depending upon the size of plug employed), a very high number of holes must be dug in the old lawn when this plugging procedure is followed. Several tools have been devised to drill the holes that are needed. However, all of the known tools are simply variations of the well-known type of tool that is commonly used for digging holes into which fence posts are to be inserted. As such, these tools can dig but one hole at a time. Accordingly, a consumer desiring to convert a lawn from one type of grass to another must pay a rather high fee to the commercial companies that provide the plugs for the new lawn, due to the number of workers that must be hired to dig the needed holes. Moreover, since each hole is individually dug, measurements must be made to assure that all of the holes are drilled at 18 inch centers.
There is clearly a need for a device that would lower the cost to consumers of converting from one lawn type to another. The needed device would enable a home owner or custom worker contracted with the device to drill more than one hole simultaneously, would drill such plurality of holes at the desired spacing, and would allow the drilling of 2500-4000 holes per hour. Ideally, the apparatus could be operated by one individual, would be lightweight, and thus easily transportable from one location to another, could be rented from hardware stores, garden shops, and the like, and would be of easy-to-maintain construction, but the needed device does not appear in the prior art.